Hadith Books as Viewed by Imam Khomeini

Ahmad Abidi

To refer to a hadith, first its validity must be verified. Each discipline of the Islamic sciences has got a set of criteria for identifying sound hadiths as well as their degree of validity. In fiqh, prior to testing the chain of authorities of a hadith, there comes a discoussion upon the reliability of its source book. Such discussions have three main points: 1. the factual ascription of the book to its author of compiler, 2. the reliabiliy of the very source book, and 3.the safety of the book from corruption. The paper is centred around Imam Khomeini's views concerning some of shiite hadith books, all extracted from his works. The books concerned with are as follows: al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya, Misbah al-Shari a, Kitab man la Yahduruhu al-Faqih, Bihar al-Anwar, to mention only a few.

Key Word: Imam Khomeini, Validity, Chain of Authorities, Shi`a Hadith Books.

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